Saturday, November 26, 2016

Since 17thNovember, MSF-supported facilities in EastGhouta(an area of besieged towns near Damascus) and AlWaer(a besieged community near Homs) have reported very high numbers of mass causalities, war wounded and dead, says the international medical humanitarianorganisationMédecinsSansFrontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Hospitals in EastGhoutaarea reported 261 wounded and 30 dead, while the hospital in AlWaerreported 100 wounded and 13 dead on just one intense day of bombing and shelling.

During this period, one paramedic in EastGhoutahas been severely wounded during an airstrike, ananaesthesiatechnician was wounded by sniper fire inZabadani, three ambulances were hit and destroyed, and one MSF-supported hospital in the EastGhoutaarea was damaged when a bomb hit theneighbouringbuilding, putting the Intensive Care Unit out of action at a time when the service was desperately needed for wounded casualties.

Schools and residential areas have been hit, suggesting at least some of these attacks are indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas. In EastGhouta43% of the wounded and 60% of the dead are children under 15 years old and women.

Multiple airstrikes hit EastGhoutaagain today. Medics in the area are reporting many casualties including women and children, but the tally of today’s war-wounded and war-dead is not yet complete.

“While we continue to raise our voice about the catastrophic situation in east Aleppo, alarm bells are again ringing loud in several other areas of this intense conflict.

“Just yesterday two schools in EastGhoutawere hit in aerial attacks as the students were leaving at the end of the day. All but one of the woundedwerewomen and children, with 16 being treated at an MSF-supported facility and others referred to other facilities in the area by ambulance.

“Last Sunday a rescue team trying to dig victims out of bomb rubble in AlWaerfound themselves under sustained mortar shelling, resulting in nine of the rescue workers being wounded and requiring treatment themselves.

“Yet again, we are horrified at the numbers of women and children among the wounded and dead coming to MSF-supported medical facilities. We should all be very concerned indeed about the fate of civilians trapped in these areas of intense conflict. If the bombing and fighting cannot be stopped, at the very least extreme care must be taken by the warring parties to avoid hitting the medics and ambulance teams going about their life-saving work.”

MSF-supported medicalstaff havereported that many residents in these areas are gathered together in basements for fear of regular bombing and shelling hitting their residential areas. Ambulances are dispatched around the area rather than being based in centralized emergency-response depots, for fear of having them all destroyed in one strike. And some hospitals have had to shut down regular medical activities as thestaff areall needed permanently in the Emergency Room and surgical departments.

The levels of supplies are running low in some of these hospitals. MSF has received and responded to three emergency requests for IV fluids, antibiotics and analgesics. In addition, our team is currently preparing for 19 other requests for resupplying the facilities in EastGhouta.